Optimizing Pianism – Evidence-Based Perspectives (2025) offers an evidence-based approach to solving the problems of pianism. It draws on research from psychology, biomechanics and neuroscience, and deals with the topics of the mechanics and perception of touch, virtuosity, learning and memory, performance psychology, injury and aesthetics. Like sports-science to the athelete, this book brings music-science to the artist.
About the Book
Optimizing Pianism is divided into 3 parts, guiding readers through belief systems, cognitive biases, perception mistakes, biomechanics, mental training, interpretative skills, and the aesthetics of expression and communication.
Part I – Pianistic Beliefs
Believing in Beliefs
Mind Traps and Mental Shortcuts
Part II – Touch Beliefs and Realities
The Touch-Tone Relationship – Performers’ Perspectives
The Touch-Tone Relationship – Scientists’ Perspectives
Part III – Optimizing Pianism
Pursuing Excellence: Beliefs, 3Ms, and a Process
Mechanical Skills
Mental Skills
Musical Skills
Part I – Pianistic Beliefs
Believing in Beliefs
Mind Traps and Mental Shortcuts
Part II – Touch Beliefs and Realities
The Touch-Tone Relationship – Performers’ Perspectives
The Touch-Tone Relationship – Scientists’ Perspectives
Part III – Optimizing Pianism
Pursuing Excellence: Beliefs, 3Ms, and a Process
Mechanical Skills
Mental Skills
Musical Skills
Excerpts
"There is no need to be a puppet of our old mind’s operation system. Our job is to be the leader of a new one, an ideal one, that combines the most courageous fictions of artistic imagination with the best tools that reality can offer to deliver them."
"...if the narratives of all the injured pianists were taken into account, certain methods of practice may not be viewed so favourably."
"in addition to their mechanical role in producing sounds, motor actions learn to embody musical meaning and convey it motorically. What meaning the movements learn depends on what meaning they are taught"
"There is no need to be a puppet of our old mind’s operation system. Our job is to be the leader of a new one, an ideal one, that combines the most courageous fictions of artistic imagination with the best tools that reality can offer to deliver them."
"...if the narratives of all the injured pianists were taken into account, certain methods of practice may not be viewed so favourably."
"in addition to their mechanical role in producing sounds, motor actions learn to embody musical meaning and convey it motorically. What meaning the movements learn depends on what meaning they are taught"
Book Reviews
"This book is a revelation. The universe of pianistic art is examined from all sides and put to the test. The approach is a scientific, rational one, but at the same time the author is also an artist and is familiar with the language of emotions and the fragility of aesthetic categories. The book contains everything an advanced pianist needs to know; from the physics of sound production on the grand piano to the anatomical details of the hand, forearm and upper arm, and from the choreography of movements to the secrets of expressive playing that moves and captivates the listener. In doing so, it is not judgmental, but critically analytical, questioning. And it contains countless practical tips, from preventing overuse injuries to working through the difficult etudes of the Romantic period and designing a pianistic life plan. Thank you, Cameron!"
Prof. m. Dr. med. Dipl. mus. Eckart Altenmüller, FEAN
Institute of Music Physiology and Musician’s Medicine, Hannover University for Music, Drama and Media
Prof. m. Dr. med. Dipl. mus. Eckart Altenmüller, FEAN
Institute of Music Physiology and Musician’s Medicine, Hannover University for Music, Drama and Media
"Highly recommended - a forensic exposé of the megalomaniacal, imperialist and superstitious BS behind many destructive piano pedagogy belief systems, this is a keenly scientific and rational handbook on pianism that can assist pianists in skewering the cultural cringe and confidently think for themselves. You may not be able to choose your family, but you can sure as hell choose your own “ultimate pianism”.
Dr Michael Kieran Harvey, FAHA
Adjunct Professor, Piano & Composition, University of Tasmania
Dr Michael Kieran Harvey, FAHA
Adjunct Professor, Piano & Composition, University of Tasmania
"Dr Cameron Roberts is the most ideal person to embark on such a study. As a brilliant pianist and practising medical doctor he combines the disciplines of science and art. Cameron Roberts brings his knowledge of the workings of the body in relation to pianism in all its aspects, and challenges received ideas which have been passed on over generations. It is first and foremost intelligent and informative; it is thought-provoking, also amusing. It is both absorbing and enjoyable to read."
Ronald Farren-Price AM. DMus Hon, FMusA Hon.
Former Dean and Head of Keyboard, University of Melbourne
Ronald Farren-Price AM. DMus Hon, FMusA Hon.
Former Dean and Head of Keyboard, University of Melbourne
"Having recently read Cameron's book, I was impressed by the breadth of his investigation and the clarity with which he synthesises this information into a single volume. As a pedagogue with a deep interest in physiology and the mental acuity required for performance, I can attest that piano pedagogy lags poorly behind in embracing and applying the latest research - particularly when compared to the rigour of sports science. Too often it has it has been clouded by half-truths, folklore, and well-meant but misguided and uninformed attempts to describe the realities of what we really do. Optimising Pianism cuts through that fog, offering not only a valuable reference to consult but a foundation for healthier, more effective, and truly optimised pianism.
Timothy Young
Head of Piano & Resident Faculty, Australian National Academy of Music
Timothy Young
Head of Piano & Resident Faculty, Australian National Academy of Music
"Cameron teaches with calm authority and an easy, approachable manner. Students feel safe to take risks with him; he helps them understand not just what to do, but why it matters. His explanations are clear, practical, and attuned to the individual, and he has a gift for turning complex ideas into simple, useful insights they can apply immediately. His quiet excellence has a way of elevating everyone around him."
Dr Zen Zeng
Pianist, Teacher, Author, Speaker. Melbourne, Australia
Dr Zen Zeng
Pianist, Teacher, Author, Speaker. Melbourne, Australia
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From the author... "why guess when you can know!"
"Stupified by the contradictions of traditional piano pedagogies with modern science, touched with sadness by witnessing the avoidable injuries of colleagues, astonished by the collective time wasted by students practising inefficiently, and keen for a more evidence-based, reality-informed and opinion-less platform upon which to solve the problems of pianism, 'Optimizing Pianism – Evidence-Based Perspectives' enters the world.
The book is for advanced pianists and teachers, and addresses the central pedagogical theme of touch, the touch-tone interaction, its mechanics, our perceptions of it, and how – based on understanding – we can optimise it. Uniquely, it examines this topic through the eyes of science in an evidence-based way, challenging the assumptions of common teaching traditions, and exposing the pitfalls of many pedagogical schools of thought – systems that continue to permeate teaching institutions around the world. Chiefly, the book is concerned with separating what matters from what doesn't matter in regards to achieving virtuosity. It highlights how errors of thinking, errors of mechanics and errors of learning are major factors preventing pianism from succeeding. It outlines an approach to overcoming such problems by targeting objective solutions in the Mechanical, the Mental and the Musical domains of pianism - 'The 3 M's of Pianism'." |